1. Field of the Invention
Systems and methods consistent with the present invention manage credit accounts, and, more particularly, manage credit accounts having an adjustable credit limit.
2. Description of the Related Art
Credit cards provide a mechanism by which an authorized cardholder may purchase goods or services without an immediate, direct exchange of cash. With each purchase, a cardholder incurs debt, which he or she may thereafter pay in full or pay over a period of time.
The total amount of funds available to the cardholder at any particular time is typically limited to the credit limit (i.e., the maximum allowable debt on a credit card), minus the outstanding balance (i.e., the total debt on a credit card). The credit limit is predetermined by the issuer of the card and is generally based on a number of nonexclusive factors, for example, the cardholder's earning capacity and credit history.
Under most known credit card administration methods, the card issuer informs the cardholder of the credit limit for the credit card. The credit limit acts as a threshold above which the card issuer will not normally allow purchases or cash advances by the cardholder. A cardholder may sometimes circumvent the credit limit by applying for a higher credit limit or by requesting and obtaining express authorization from the card issuer to make a purchase above the credit limit. Both of these options are granted only at the discretion of the card issuer, generally on a case-by-case basis and typically require the manual intervention of the card issuer.
The above technique of administrating a credit card account once the credit limit has been reached is inefficient and too discretionary. It is very time consuming to manually analyze an account to make a determination on whether to increase a credit limit or approve a transaction. Furthermore, because accounts are manually analyzed on a case-by-case basis at the discretion of the cardholder service representative, the potential for inconsistent determinations exist. Still further, in the above technique, the determination on whether to increase a credit limit or approve a transaction can only be made when a cardholder service representative is available. Therefore, during an emergency after business hours, a cardholder may wait hours before he can request a credit limit increase or authorization for a transaction. Based on the above disadvantages, it is desirable to automatically manage the credit limit of an account, thus reducing the time to analyze the account and limiting any inconsistent results.
As stated above, under most known credit card administration methods, the card issuer informs the cardholder of the credit limit for the credit card. Credit cards without a stated limit are typically positioned for premium credit card cardholders, since the cardholder may derive a feeling of prestige in not having a stated credit limit.